After Dark Days
by DelphianBleak
Summary: Picks up where Dark Days ends. After Val's revelation, does she tell Skulduggery? does she take matters into her own hands? INSPIRED BY THAT CREEPY KID'S 'DON'T TRUST ME' Back in action! Meant to be oneshot, am continuing atm xDBx R&R Possible Valduggery.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, basically I read That Creepy Kid's fanfiction "Don't trust me" and this idea came into my head, what.**

**So basically I'm giving pretty much all the credit to That Creepy Kid, because if it wasn't for their fanfiction this would not have been born :P**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, they belong to Derek Landy. I also do not own the idea completely; the idea mostly belongs to That Creepy Kid.**

* * *

Valkyrie sat up rigidly, wide eyed and glaring at the little wooden man that was now the sudden hatred of her life. She stood up and went to her mirror. She got out her reflection and told it to go get in her bed, to get up when the alarm went off and to go to school. After that was done she got into her protective clothing and jumped out the window, making her way to Gordon's.

Once at the large mansion Valkyrie made her way inside and up into her room there, under her bed she kept a gun that Tanith had secretly given her for if anything ever happened and her Elemental – or now Necromancy – powers were not enough. She picked it up and weighed it lightly in her hand, checking the bullets.

Her footsteps back down stairs weren't very quiet, they thumped against the old staircase causing it to groan in protest but she carried on and walked into the living room. Sitting on the sofa she looked around.

_Darquesse, I'm Darquesse. _

The one thought replayed itself over and over in her head. Not letting her forget. Suddenly she remembered what Skulduggery had said, _"Not if we kill her first." _They were planning on killing Darquesse, which would mean killing her. Valkyrie shook her head, willing the tears away, she wouldn't be able to handle it if one of her friends shot her, and it would kill her more than the bullet that caused her death. Valkyrie grabbed her phone and searched for the number she needed still the thoughts running through her head

_Stephanie Edgley, Valkyrie Cain, Darquesse. _

_Stephanie Edgley, Valkyrie Cain, Darquesse._

"Hello? Valkyrie it's nearly 5 in the morning. Why are you calling me?" Skulduggery's voice said from the other end of the phone line. It brought her back into reality.

"Skulduggery, that dream whisperer that Cassandra gave me... It showed me a dream that I have never been able to get the full picture of." She said quietly into the phone

"Yes, well, that is the purpose of a dream whisperer. Is that all you called me for because," She cut him off from his sarcastic remarks. Something she would miss. A single tear ran down her cheek.

"No. What it showed me was something I have lived through. Do you remember when we were defeating Serpine, and the book of names fell to the floor?"

"Yes, indeed I do." He replied.

"Well I saw my name. The page it landed on had my names on it. But I only caught the first two. My given name and my taken name and that's it. That's all I thought I saw. But this dream was showing me what my I did see, but never remembered. Skulduggery I saw my true name." She had more tears streaming down her face now, a constant stream.

"Well, some people have been known to know them. Is that all you wanted? You sound upset, are you okay?" He asked in a slightly worried tone.

"I would say I'm okay, but I'm honestly not." She said, her voice breaking at the end.

"Valkyrie, are you crying? Look, do you want me to come to your house?" He asked caringly.

"No, I'm not there anyway. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. And that you opened my eyes to a lot of things..." She trailed off, writing down a note because surely they would try to stop her and when they did, they would find it.

"What are you saying Valkyrie? Where are you and what are you doing?" Skulduggery had a tone of panic now and she could hear him moving around in the background.

"I'm saying that I loved spending my time with you and that I appreciated it. Yes though, on one hand if I had never met you I might not be in this situation right now, but if I hadn't met you I wouldn't be who I am. Skulduggery before I go, I need you to know my true name, the reason why I'm doing this." This time he cut her off

"Don't do something stupid Valkyrie! Where are you, I'll come to you. Has someone got you? And don't tell me, I don't need to know." He was rushing his words and she heard the Bentley start up. He was going to be here soon, she had to get it over and done with.

"Look, no one has me. I'm doing this to myself and you do need to know, you need to know that I'm trying to keep you safe, I'm trying to keep everyone safe." She whispered, but now Skulduggery was at Ghastly's apparently. She heard Mr Bespoke and Tanith Low in the background now.

"She's going to do something stupid I know, she's saying goodbye. Tanith, where do you think she is?" He asked his company.

"Skulduggery, don't come for me yet. Please. I need to do this, I need to. I love all of you so much, and I don't want you to see me when I do it... Goodbye." She said blankly. Valkyrie was out of tears now. And her face was void of all emotion as she hung up on what was probably another protest from her skeleton detective. She placed the note on the table in front of her reading it over, and she picked up the gun again, cocking it back ready to shoot. That's when the Bentley pulled up outside.

"Valkyrie?" she heard Tanith ask into the house, they ran in looking in all the rooms until they found her. The gun pointed underneath her chin.

"No... Valkyrie don't." Skulduggery said, and for the first time in her life, he sounded scared. He slowly walked towards her his arms in front of him. "Valkyrie put the gun down, whatever it is we will get through it. We'll always get through it." He said calmly but she shot him back with a blast of air and shook her head.

"I'm going to end up ruining everything. Don't you see? This is for the good of everyone... I can't hurt anyone, I can't kill when I'm already dead." She said sadly. "I've got to do this." She said again, quietly and shut her eyes tight as she pulled the trigger. A second before she did, skulduggery leapt at her but he didn't stop the bullet. Tanith had turned away into Ghastly's shoulder, crying. And Ghastly stood there, strong. But even he couldn't hold back the few tears that escaped.

"We need to get her to the Hibernian. NOW!" Skulduggery yelled, running past the pair, running to the Bentley. He placed her in the passenger seat, holding her hand as all four of them drove off. "Valkyrie, stay alive, please. You stupid, stupid girl! Please don't die on me now." He quietly begged the limp body of his partner next to him.

When they got there, they rushed in, "Kenspeckle! Kenspeckle!" Tanith had yelled, and the professor came as fast as he could, once he spotted Valkyrie his eyes had widened. "Skulduggery Pleasant, what have you got this poor girl into!" He had screeched as he ran the girl into an operation theatre. "I swear to you this wasn't me... She... She shot herself." Skulduggery finished of quietly, barely able to say it. Kenspeckle froze. "She what?" He had said monotonously but quickly regained posture in trying to save the girl in front of him. No one had answered. After the three had been ushered out of the theatre they had waited. And after waiting for over an hour, the professor came back out. "Did she leave anything?" was all he said, and Tanith pulled out the note from her back pocket.

The professor took it, and read it aloud.

"_If you're reading this, I'm probably dead. _

_I am sorry for this, and at this moment I am on the phone to Skulduggery, I had to do what had to be done. I couldn't stay after finding out what I had._

_Even though you may not realise, I did this to keep everyone safe. Not from Sanguine, not from Dusk, not from anyone we normally fight against, but from me. _

_You are probably wondering what I'm on about, but what I saw was my names in the book of names, and what it read was what scared me the most. I knew when I came into this world that I would change, but the direction I would change in, I would never of thought would be the one that I would have if I were alive._

_Inside the book of names it had read:_

Stephanie Edgley, Valkyrie Cain, _and finally, _Darquesse.

_I couldn't let myself become what Cassandra or finbar saw. I couldn't let myself put everyone at danger from myself, I hope you understand that. Please, don't hold it against me. _

_My reflection is probably awake now, and if it is, it's at school. Can someone sort it out so that it gets hit by a car or something believable? Make it vanish. And tell my parents I loved them._

_I loved all of you. And please don't forget that._

_Valkyrie Cain."_

The professor finished and looked up at the three people in front of him Tanith was crying again, and Ghastly was trying to comfort her. "She can't be! It's not true, we'd of helped her!" she was crying. But skulduggery was frozen. He was broken. "She was so bright... it wouldn't of been her. It would have changed!" His voice rose as he continued, punching a wall.

"Professor, you didn't tell us, is she dead?" Ghastly spoke up looking at Kenspeckle, as did everyone else.

"She is alive. But barely holding on, I had to do some minor brain surgery I'm assuming someone had nudged the gun out of place,"Skulduggery nodded. "Well then you saved her Skulduggery. One more millimetre closer to the brain and she would have had no chance. She has lost so much blood, and had several damaged nerves. But she is stronger than a lot of people, and she held on. Although she is in a comatose state, and it's hard to tell when she'll wake," He finished just as a loud clatter and a screech was heard inside her medical room.

"WHY?" she screeched, her voice broken. She was hitting the table and shot up just as they all walked in. Tanith ran up to the girl and hugged her, and she hugged back for a moment before letting go. "You were meant to let me die..." She muttered.

"You really think that? Valkyrie, I have never been so heartbreakingly terrified for a long time. Please, please Valkyrie, promise me you will never do that again." Skulduggery said, his voice slightly broken too. If he were alive he'd of been crying. He pulled her into a hug.

"I can't do that. You have seen Cassandra's visions! I'm going to end the world, I'm going to kill Fletcher! Even my own _parents_," She sneered.

"Don't think like that. We will get you through this. And it would never have been you anyway. We all know that." Skulduggery said, completely sure. And Valkyrie nodded. Fletcher appeared then.

"I'm not sure why we're all here but Valkyrie, your reflection just killed... someone." He said in a grave tone. Everyone looked at each other and ran to the Bentley.

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**Well this was the idea that popped into my head, I could carry it on, but I will only do so on request so if you want more tell me :) **

**also PLEASE review, I love them, and they are really nice to read. And again if you review I will give you a cyber hug or cyber cookies? tell me what one you want and I'll give them!? :D please? hehe**

**okay well thankyou for reading.**

**Delphian, Out.**

**xDBx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry this took so long!!! Okay. I have a very good excuse. It's just going to take me a while to think of it. But I _have_ had extreme writers block and a week of exams. **

**BTW on subject of exams have you ever played bogies during one? or near the end? I have. SOOOO FUNNY. **

**Now it's very short because of my writers block, I am sorry =[ **

**xDBx**

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Stephanie Edgley loomed tall over the bleeding, limp, dead corpse that used to be a living man. She didn't have a sign of regret in her dark eyes, even as she had heard his blood curdling scream as she killed him.

Just as she turned around she noticed someone who she vaguely recognised, but not through her own eyes. He had a mess of blonde hair on his head, looked about 20. He was frozen to the spot in shock however when he returned back to earth he disappeared.

Stephanie's head tilted until she realised what had happened and she muttered a low curse and ran in the opposite direction. She ran to the park, they wouldn't look for her here, she was meant to be in school so she just kept walking completely away from reality.

* * *

Fletcher had Teleported everyone, even the wounded Valkyrie Cain who was too stubborn for her own good, to the shell of a man. He lay in a pool of his deep red blood, his face still twisted in pain from the multiple stab wounds over his body. "Why would she do this?" Valkyrie asked, "Skulduggery, when we shot her,"

"_It" _He corrected.

"When we shot it, that's when the gaps started appearing in her day... and she can do a lot more then she should be able to do. When... When it says my name is Darquesse, wouldn't that also apply to it? If it's a copy of me." She stated, still looking at the dead man in front of her.

"That," Skulduggery started. ", Is entirely plausible." He decided.

"Who is the bloke anyway?" Tanith asked.

"His name is Temperous Glaze." Fletcher answered flatly, still looking at the man in front of him. "He was... Someone I knew." Suddenly everyone looked at him, Valkyrie rushed over.

"I'm so sorry Fletcher it's my entire fault! It's my reflection, I mean, how do you know him was he a friend?" She gushed, but he shook his head

"Not a friend. Family. That was my brother." He said, "And I'm glad he's gone." He continued

"What do you mean?"

"He did some terrible things in my family, and to others. It was on more than one occasion that he tried to kill me. Several, in fact." He smirked. "I didn't see who it was until I brought you all here, and even though your reflection killing is most certainly not a good thing, something good did come out of it." Laughing he turned around. "Sorry about that, I have to be somewhere, can you get back by yourselves?"

"Yes, thank you Fletcher," Skulduggery told him, and walked over to the body. "Definitely not a good thing..." He muttered below his voice, Valkyrie cursed.

"Well, I'm going to have to get rid of the reflection then." She said. Thoughts were running through her head, what's going to happen at home now then?

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"Ah, Stephanie you're home. How was school?" Melissa Edgley askes me.

"Good. Same as always." I answer, and go to walk upstairs.

"Stop right there. Why are you lying to me?" Her voice was harsh, something I had never come across. "You _wern't_ at school today. They phoned in. You have never gone something like that, what made you do that, you'd better have a good excuse!"

"I went to the park to clear my mind. I'm sorry mum. One of my friends died earlier." It was all too easy for me to lie, and for Melissa's eyes to widen.

"Oh honey, why did you not tell me? You could have stayed home. I am sorry for yelling at you." She embraced me and I replied.

"It's okay, I just needed some alone time. Can I go upstairs now?"

"Of course honey, call me if you need anything."

"Will do"

I carried on upstairs to my room, and finished planning what I had been researching ever since that bullet entered my reflected heart.

Let it go down in flames.

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**Hmm, bit of a let down? Alot of people were asking who the reflection killed, as if it were a big thing. I do actually have a plot basis for this. But I hope and think a few of you would be surprised.**

**xDBx  
**


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